This device and method belong to the class of exercise heart rate monitoring. The present invention relates generally to methodology and apparatus for heart rate monitoring in fitness and rehabilitation applications.
Such devices are applicable in facilitating the benefits from a structured exercise program during which the person has some knowledge or feedback from the heart rate. The target zones typically include fat burning, strong heart, aerobic, etc. The zones are individualized for each person, typically as heart rate limits based on age.
The present invention relates to a device and also to a method for employing a miniature talking device for monitoring of the heart work load during exercise. The device introduces manual means for entering user's age and desired exercise target zone for automated exercise.
The nature of devices and methods previously known and used are such as to require the user to memorize the heart rate limits suitable for a given exercise level. The mere feedback of heart rate requires the user of existing monitors to make some mental arithmetic: "Am I in the required zone which is between such and such to such and such beats per minutes?".
This invention is intended to be an improvement, attachment or replacement that overcomes the above difficulties and inconveniences which the existing monitors pose, especially to older people with slower thinking that are still engaged in exercise, or to the blind that can not use visual set-up and display devices altogether.
Traditional exercise heart rate monitors depend therefore on user's memory or on hi/lo limit alarms to maintain the pace for a desired target zone. The invention automatically presets all zones based on entered age, and user need not be concerned with the heart rate and target zone tables. User need only select the desired zone corresponding to the desired outcome: Fat burning, healthy heart, aerobics, etc.
Beyond the prior art of traditional display of the heart rate (speech or visual), the device provides the user with age-related feedback messages regarding presence and time-dwell in chosen training target zones, and prompting messages upon exceeding chosen zone limits.
The device automatically computes the individualized target zones as a percentage of the maximal heart rate (MHR). The MHR for approximately 70% of the population is typically 220-Age for men, and only slightly higher for women. The target zone for fat burning, for example, is in the zone corresponding to 55-70% of the individual MHR. Other zones include healthy heart, aerobic, anaerobic and red line zones.
The user needs only enter age and desired target zone. Feedback information is then automatically presented through digital display or preferred embodiment speech message in each chosen time period, or on-demand. The device combines speech messages and a single button for menu selection of age and zone setup.
The device stores such information in non-volatile memory. This device is of particularly great benefit to the blind exerciser or to people who exercise in poorly lit environments, as well as to those who wish to get the benefits of heart-rated exercise without resorting to heart-rate zone vs. age tables.